city of

CINCINNATIInterdepartmental Correspondence Sheet

Date: September 9, 2015

To: Mayor and Members of City Council

From: Harry Black, City Manager~ (3Copies to: Paula Boggs Muething, City Solicitor

Georgetta Kelly, Director of Human Resources

Subject: Personnel Action - Jeffrey Blackwell

This memo is to inform you that this morning I terminated Jeffrey Blackwell’semployment with the City of Cincinnati, for cause. My concerns regarding Mr.Blackwell’s leadership of the Cincinnati Police Department (“CPD”) are not new. Mr.Blackwell has not provided the necessary leadership to ensure a cohesive operatingenvironment within the department. As such, morale is at an unprecedented low level,and the general sentiment throughout the department is that Mr. Blackwell’s leadershipstyle has created a work environment of hostility and retaliation.

Lack of sufficient and proper communication, particularly within the command staff,coupled with a consistent and pervasive disregard for the chain of command, have had asignificantly negative impact on operating cohesion and effectiveness within thedepartment. At a time in which our City, like so many across the Country, is facing adangerous spike in violence, we simply cannot afford such ineffective leadership. I haverepeatedly attempted to direct and assist Mr. Blackwell in addressing theseshortcomings, but he has failed to take my direction and accordingly the problems havepersisted. Several months ago as a means of addressing CPD communications andorganizational unity issues, I solicited the assistance of an outside facilitator to conducta team Büil?Iing session withM~Bl~k~ëlf~ifd top command~ff~However, thi~ffortdid not lead to an improvement in working conditions within the department.

These concerns and others motivated me to conduct an exhaustive review of mattersrelating to the police department. This investigation uncovered serious problems withmanagement and leadership. It is for that reason, and the reasons I will detail furtherbelow, that terminating Mr. Blackwell was the first and most important step towardcreating a climate in the CPD that will allow it to flourish internally and provide ourofficers with peace of mind relating to their command structure. An effective leadershipstructure is essential for our officers to be able to focus their energy on the importantand dangerous jobs we have charged them with performing in communities across theCity of Cincinnati.

As the chief executive officer of this municipal corporation, I owe it to the men andwomen of the Cincinnati Police Department to understand the climate within which

they have been required to work, to acknowledge that despite those dire conditions ourofficers have continued to serve with distinction and honor, to further acknowledge thatit is unreasonable to expect these officers to continue to serve with distinction in theexisting toxic environment, and that it is my responsibility to take all necessary steps toensure a professional work environment for our Cincinnati police officers. To fulfill thisresponsibility, I have taken a number of steps. First I reviewed the climate assessmentreport (copy attached). The contents of the report led me to consult with the highestranking officers within the CPD command staff and civilian personnel. These one-on-one conversations, some of which are memorialized in written statements attachedhereto, led to some alarming conclusions.

The formal and informal feedback solicited from a variety of sources indicates that Mr.Blackwell uses verbal abuse and insult to convey authority. This is one of the moretroubling conclusions I have reached. It is important to note that the incidents that havebeen relayed to me span the spectrum of rank, gender, and race. Individuals have beenthreatened and berated, in the presence of subordinate officers, superior officers, andmembers of the public. This tactic has served to damage morale and has caused anumber of officers and CPD civilian employees to seek treatment for anxiety and stresscaused by this environment. The attached statements document specific instances ofthis type of behavior against Barbara Young, a police lieutenant, over a year ago, andmore recently against Assistant Chief David Bailey and a civilian employee, Director ofCommunications Tiffaney Hardy. Each of the instances is corroborated by others.

Equally disturbing, a culture of hostility and retaliation instituted by Mr. Blackwell hasput the integrity of the police department at risk. In reaction to the recent storyregarding Mr. Blackwell’s use of overtime, which chronicled the use of taxpayer money,Mr. Blackwell engaged in several documented and corroborated acts of retaliation. Heillegally threatened Assistant Chief Bailey with termination because Mr. Blackwellbelieved the Assistant Chief was responsible for the story. Mr. Blackwell separatelyaccused Tiffaney Hardy of the same offense and ordered an “investigation” into Ms.Hardy’s actions. These are textbook acts of retaliation. It must be reiterated that theinformation reported by the CjnnfttiEnquir~ispi1iejnformation...thattheEnquirerrequested and that the City is required to share in response to such a request. Theincidents described here suggest that Mr. Blackwell expected his subordinates to riskdefying state law in order to protect his image and, when they did not, engaged in acts ofretaliation against them.

Mr. Blackwell has also demonstrated a disregard for the chain of command. Within theCPD, as within any law enforcement organization, adhering to the proceduresestablished by the department and respecting the chain of command is critical to thesuccess of the organization. Mr. Blackwell has alienated and disregarded his executiveteam — the assistant chiefs — which in turn has led to poor communication to theremaining command staff regarding departmental changes, direction, and objectives.Normally, the command staff would report such information to their direct reports inthe districts and other units. Under Mr. Blackwell’s management, even this basiccommunication model was not followed. Instead, Mr. Blackwell hand-selected a groupof officers who are not within the leadership structure of the organization and reliedupon those individuals in order to make and communicate decisions related to theorganization.

2

Such actions outside the chain of command have had a direct negative impact ondepartmental wide communications. As an example of ignoring chain of command andexpertise, Executive Assistant Chief Eliot Isaac described the haphazard way Mr.Blackwell made redeployment decisions without proper deliberation, consultation, orevaluation of the consequences for other units or divisions within the department. Thistype of poor decision making and communication unnecessarily placed the public andpolice officers at risk.

Morale is at unacceptably low levels, which hinders department cohesion andeffectiveness at a time of great need. The attached Climate Assessment Report,conducted by an independent consulting firm, demonstrates that the vast majority ofthe police personnel are demoralized and that Mr. Blackwell’s leadership style andactions are to blame. Some of the negative assessments and feedback are shocking.“81.5% of survey respondents believe the department has ineffective communicationsfrom the Police Chief down to the Patrol Officers.” “Police Chief has not clearly definedand communicated a strategic plan, departmental mission or direction.” “According tothe electronic survey results, on a 10-point scale (io being excellent), respondents [485individuals surveyed] rated the overall employee morale at a 2.29.”

The findings of the climate assessment have been corroborated by my own investigation.Executive Assistant Chief Eliot Isaac describes the morale to be at an “all-time low...worse than the aftermath of the 2001 civil unrest.” Specialist Scotty Johnson states thatin his 29 years of service, “I have never witnessed such hostility and lack of respect foremployees. These conditions have directly contributed to the low morale anddispleasure pervasively haunting the Cincinnati Police Department.” Based on myinvestigation and the climate assessment report, I have concluded that Mr. Blackwell isthe primary reason for the low morale.

Mr. Blackwell has also disregarded established procedures for issues such as overtimeassignments and has been less than forthright in describing his personal involvement inovertime assignments when directly_questioned byjrnh~spftJw_elegtec[l~c1ershipj~fthe City and members of the City administration. Overtime documents clearly indicatethat Mr. Blackwell “pre-approves” overtime for certain individuals for matters that healone determines to be worthy of overtime, and does so without consultation with therelevant officer’s commanding or supervising officers. It has also come to my attentionthat certain members of Mr. Blackwell’s favored group of officers have inappropriatelyreceived overtime benefits in excess of what was required by departmental needs. Mr.Blackwell appears to have initiated retaliatory acts against Ms. Hardy when she raisedlegitimate questions about the use of overtime. The amount of overtime given to peopleclose to Mr. Blackwell requires further investigation to determine whether it constitutesmere favoritism or rises to the level of an inappropriate use of police funds.

In addition to the overtime issue, the documentation of Mr. Blackwell’s own work hoursis not credible. Mr. Blackwell’s travels are well documented and his family continues toreside in Columbus, Ohio, but he has only taken eight hours of vacation in two years ofemployment with the City. Many officers have described being unable to reach Mr.Blackwell during critical public safety moments even at times when Mr. Blackwell wasrecorded as in town. Mr. Blackwell has used so little vacation time that he “maxed out”

3

the amount of vacation time he can roll over into the next year, an unprecedentedaccrual of vacation after only two years of employment.

I have also learned that Mr. Blackwell has failed to meet an important responsibility asChief of Police by failing to ensure the integrity of the work environment for theinspections unit and work product for the internal investigations unit, both of which fallwithin the Professional Standards Section. The work of the internal investigations unitis of the utmost sensitivity and importance. It is critical that the work of this unitremains unimpeachable. And yet, Mr. Blackwell failed to ensure adequate tracking ofreports and in some instances lost reports that were submitted to him for final reviewand failed to timely review and release reports from the internal investigations unit withsome reports languishing on his desk for as long as six months to one year.

The attached statements of officers Barbara Young and Ryan Smith demonstrate thatMr. Blackwell engaged in retaliation against the inspections unit for raising legitimatequestions about the integrity of their work space for conducting inspections and simplyuprooted the unit into an inappropriately secure space without consulting thecommanding officer or supervising assistant chief. The statements indicate that Mr.Blackwell went so far as to verbally abuse Lt. Young in the presence of her subordinateofficers, without her supervising officers present or even aware of the actions Mr.Blackwell was taking.

Mr. Blackwell also summarily ended the authority of the unit to conduct overtimeaudits. As a recommendation of the City’s Internal Audit team, these audits wereconducted quarterly by the inspections unit and had been conducted as such for severalyears. In order to conduct these audits, the inspections unit would randomly identifyofficers throughout the department and perform a simple audit by ensuring that eachofficer had completed the appropriate forms and that all necessary signatures wereobtained for each overtime expenditure. When a member of the Quality of LifeEnhancement Team complained to Mr. Blackwell that his/her overtime was the subjectof such an audit, Mr. Blackwell summoned Lt. Young into his office. He then proceededto question her authority to conduct the audits and to admonish her for conducting thequarterly audits without the benefit of a conversation with her commanding officer. Theinspections unit has not completed an overtime audit since that incident in early 2014.

Another conclusion reached through interviews with members of the department is thatMr. Blackwell has an unprofessional obsession with publicity and self-promotion, evenat the expense of management and the morale of the police department. A particularlyegregious and insensitive example is Mr. Blackwell taking “selfies” along the processionroute of slain officer Sonny Kim. Mr. Blackwell was in a car that was traveling theprocession route, from which he took “selfies,” and then later walked along theprocession route taking “selfies” with citizens along the route, in a manner that wasmore reflective of a parade rather than a funeral procession. The climate assessmentreport also reports widespread complaints about Mr. Blackwell’s focus on his ownpublicity and self-promotion.

Mr. Blackwell also used his position to extract tickets to sporting events from thenCommander of the Central Business District, Capt. Paul Broxterman. On severaloccasions Mr. Blackwell, either personally or thru his staff, would request that team

4

contacts be utilized to acquire tickets for his personal use for an upcoming game. Hewas provided with access to tickets at no cost, however, upon repeated requests, Capt.Broxterman became increasingly uncomfortable in reaching out to his contacts onbehalf of Mr. Blackwell. Finally, Mr. Blackwell was offered access to tickets at full price;once he was informed of the cost associated with the tickets, Mr. Blackwell was nolonger interested in acquiring tickets for that game.

This is only a summary of the reasons leading to my decision to terminate Mr.Blackwell. Sadly, there are many other failures and instances that have contributed tomy decision. I thank the brave women and men in uniform for their dedication andservice to the City and the civilian work force that works hand in hand with our officersto ensure that the police are able to effectively perform their duties. It is my duty andresponsibility to these employees of the City of Cincinnati, and to the citizens of thisCity, that has led me to make this very difficult but necessary decision. Cincinnati hascome a long way through hard work, critical self assessment, and engaging thecommunity. It would be a failure to allow poor, or at least incomplete, leadership at thetop of the CPD to jeopardize the progress made. If a Police Chief is adept at communityrelations but completely fails to communicate his vision or to explain to subordinateshow the department’s deployment plans are designed to improve community relations,his strength in that area is completely wasted.

This is a critical time in the country and in Cincinnati for relations between lawenforcement and the citizenry, and the department needs to move forward. We arereaching out to community leaders and stakeholders during this time of transition. Wewill also be communicating internally to ensure that the members of the policedepartment are kept abreast of important matters during transition. It is essential forthe officers on the street, their supervisors, and the whole chain of command toexperience clear, uniform communication through the leadership structure; equaltreatment and authority appropriate to rank; respect and appropriate protocol incorrection and discipline; and support rather than retaliation in the face of constructivecomplaints or suggestions. If we do not ensure that our police officers feel this supportwithin the department, we risk attrition,~p~thy, and eid~tjQ~atjm_Qf.jjepartment~values in the long term.

To ensure continuity in police department operations and also to take the first step inforward movement described above, effective this morning, I made the followinginterim appointments:

Eliot Isaac, Interim Chief of PoliceDavid Bailey, Interim Executive Assistant Chief of PoliceDouglas Wiesman, Interim Assistant Chief of Police

These appointments will begin the process of allowing the department to heal itself andquickly reestablish operational integrity, communications, and moral cohesion andstability. I will be working with the command team to permanently fill all leadershipvacancies. I will keep you apprised.

Personal Statements

7-10-14

Kathy Harrell, FOP PresidentQueen City Lodge 691900 Central ParkwayCincinnati, Ohio 45214

President Harrell,

I, Barbara M. Young, Commander of Inspections Unit, respectfully submit the followingresponse to a meeting held in the Chiefs Conference Room held on July 8, 2014, at 3:00pm.

Background:• Inspections Unit was told approximately 3 months prior to this meeting that they were

going to move from the Spinney Complex to District One. Safe Streets was moving fromDistrict One into Inspections Unit’s space at the Spinney Complex. I was informed thiswas in the best interest of the Department.

• There was a meeting between Captain Russ Neville, Captain Tern Theetge, LieutenantJohn Cordova and myself regarding the specifics of the move. Basically, we all agreedwe would make the new space for Inspections Unit comparable to the original space atSpinney in space and security.

o Carpet and paint for Inspections would be looked into for next year’s budgeto Locks- all doors would get lockso Looking into getting a door in between the Quality of Life Office and Inspections

Unit Office closing off access to the other offices and keeping Inspections Unitsecure.

o We were unsure who Vonda Morgan worked for, but were assured she would bemoving out of the Inspections Unit new space prior to us moving.

o Numerous other issues like moving companies, completed forms, dates ect.• Inspections Unit personnel were not excited with the move, BUT complied with the

diië~tive, assi~tëdWitWthe packing and unpackiii~fofthe move andëleanedtliëóldspace to make it acceptable for Safe Streets personnel.

• Safe Streets personnel left their location at District One extremely dirty with a mound oftrash, debris and broken furniture in the middle of the office area.

• Vonda was still in her cubicle after the move, directing not so professional comments atInspections Unit personnel, while stating “1 will not leave my space until I am personallytold to leave by Chief Blackwell”.

• Under my direction due to the prior meetings with my superiors, Inspections Unitpersonnel contacted facilities management to inquire about putting a door between thetwo offices and having locks put on the doors.

• I assisted in every effort to clean, move furniture and debris, and make the necessaryagreed upon changes to assist with a professional secure work site for the InspectionsUnit.

Meeting:• At 2:45pm, I was told by Sabrina that the Chief would like to have a meeting with

Inspections Unit personnel in the Chiefs Conference Room. Sergeant Abe Lawson,Sergeant Ryan Smith, Sergeant Brian Norris and I attended the meeting. Chief Blackwell,Lieutenant Emmitt Gladden and Sergeant Donna Dees were also present for the meeting.I had no idea what the meeting was about, I thought maybe the Chief was welcoming usto District One and inquiring what we are responsible for within the Department. I waswrong.

.

Conclusion:

As we were taking our seats, Chief Blackwell turned to me in front of my 3subordinate sergeants and started to personally attack me for 45 minutes. Hestarted out with saying how he had heard I was unhappy about the move and thatif that was the case he would transfer me immediately. Chief stated that I hadpersonally brought down the morale with negativity for the entire 2~’ floor. Heasked who was Ito ask for doors and locks and if I knew who can authorize suchpurchases? The Chief stated there was no reason to lock up our files or lock thedoors. He said our Department is not under CALEA anymore. Inspections Unitpersonnel can lock their desk drawers. Chief made it clear that Inspections Unit’sOffice was to be open access 24/7. The Chief went on to say I had no authority torequest paint and carpet. The facility we moved into was good enough for SafeStreets personnel and it is definitely good enough for Inspections Unit. Why do Ithink Inspections Unit deserves carpet and paint?

• I had been in our new office for only 4 days following the directives from mysuperiors. I had only talked to 2 individuals, other than Inspections Unitpersonnel the whole 4 days, Michelle Faulkner and Officer Lisa Johnson. OfficerJohnson was a tremendous help in organizing the office and moving certain desksinto the Quality of Life Office. Michelle Faulkner was using the central copierand I explained, as I was told by my superiors, that we would be locking the doorssoon and I believed a new copier would be provided for her use. But until thattime, please go ahead and use this one. All of the plans for Inspections Unit newoffice space were discussed prior to the move, however now I believe now that noone had told the other office personnel on the second floor.

• This is definitely the most unprofessional meeting I have ever been involved inover the last 24 years with the Department. I felt I was personally attacked anddegraded by Chief Blackwell without cause and in front of the sergeants Isupervise.

• The Chief did not consult with my direct supervisor, Captain Tern Theetge oreven Ltc Paul Humphries over the issues he perceived with the move. If he wouldhave consulted with his command personnel he would have been aware of thedirectives given to me. Where was the communication? Who did he get hisinformation from? Inspections Unit personnel has no prior complaints.

• Moving from an office with a security system and locked doors, directives frommy supervisors, I was doing exactly what I was directed to do in trying set up themost effective, efficient and professional work space for the inspections Unit.

BMY

September-8, 2015

Subject: Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell

I know Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell to be a good man. As the Cincinnati police chief, I think hehad the best of intentions to serve the city well. However, I believe there were times where hisconduct was unprofessional, and overall, his management style did not foster a healthyenvironment within the Cincinnati Police Department.

From May 2013, to August 2014, I served as the Central Business Section Commander. Part ofmy duties involved being a liaison with the Cincinnati Reds and the Cincinnati Bengals. Duringthat time, there were several occasions where the chief asked me, either personally or thru oneof his staff members, to reach out to my team contacts to get him tickets for an upcominggame. Although I was uncomfortable in doing this, on two or three occasions, I was able to gethim tickets at no cost. As the chief made repeated requests, I became increasinglyuncomfortable in reaching out to my contacts. I believed the chief sensed this, because whenhe made a request on one particular occasion, he stated he would be willing to pay for thetickets. When I told his staff member how much the tickets would be, the chief was no longerinterested in getting tickets for that game.

One evening, Cincinnati Bengals Coach Marvin Lewis asked Chief Blackwell to stop by thestadium and address his team after a team meeting. The chief gave a five to ten minutespeech. As he was walking out of the meeting room, Chief Blackwell turned towards the teamand stated, “I need tickets.”

The Central Business Section has a small number of personnel. As the commander, I wasalways politicking to get more officers, as were all my fellow commanders. One particular dayin 2013, Chief Blackwell attended a second shift roll call. He told the officers and myself he wasgoing to increase our staff significantly within a week. That promise was never filled.Unfortunately, it was a common theme during his tenure. He would promise transfers andreallocation of personnel frequently, but rarely would it occur.

From August 2014, to June 2015, I served as the Patrol Administration Commander. During mytime on the administration floor of headquarters, I experienced first-hand the dysfunction andlack of communication the chief had with his assistant chiefs. There are two sides of theadministration offices —the chief’s office is on one side and the assistant chiefs’ offices are onthe other. My office was next to the assistant chiefs’ offices. I believe I saw the chief visit oneof his assistant chiefs’ offices once during my 10 months in that assignment. I listened to theassistant chiefs’ frustration regarding the lack of communication and direction the chief hadwith them. They clearly felt powerless in the day-today operations of the Department.

As a member of the command staff, I feel that the Department currently lacks direction.Unfortunately, I believe the chief has little regard for the opinions and suggestions of hiscommanders. Instead, he relies on the counsel of his inner circle. The chief’s inner circle, which

1

includes non-supervisors and civilians, is often allowed to circumvent the chain of command,leaving middle managers and command officers powerless. I believe morale among commandofficers is the lowest I have seen in my 27 years with the Department.

There is no doubt Chief Blackwell has excelled in community outreach. He is passionate inreaching out to the youth in our city and he strives to provide them with guidance and hope.Sadly, he has failed to do the same within our Department.

Respectfully,

Captain Paul F. Broxterman, Jr.

Professional Standards Section Commander

147.03 R.C.

/‘I

Facing the possibility of a no confidence vote orchestrated by the Fraternal Order of Police,Chief Jeffrey Blackwell called a news conference on 9/2/15 in which he appeared to beoutraged and shocked by this action. It is my intention for this document to illustrate the levelof dysfunction caused to the Cincinnati Police Department under the management (notleadership) of Chief Jeffrey Blackwell. Keep in mind this document in no way will capture all ofthe events which have adversely impacted this agency over the two year reign of ChiefBlackwell but they will provide at least my perspective of the current internal climate.

Management Team

in most functional police agencies business is conducted through regular collaboration with theDepartment’s top commanders. From the onset, Chief Blackwell essentially ignoredrecommendations from his command staff and instead set up an alternative advisory team whohe considered as “loyal”. This group would regularly meet behind closed doors and makedeterminations regarding a myriad of operational issues. Once these decisions were made,they were sometimes never even so much presented as at least general information to thesenior command staff. Initially, this body, referred to throughout the Department as the “realcommand staff”, consisted of Ms. Ellie Topham, Ms. Sabrina-Burton Simonson, Lt. EmmetGladden, Lt. Lisa Davis and members of the Public Information Office. Recently, however, thePolice Chief alienated members of the Public Information Office and replaced their involvement

~was unIiñiT~id~d unsupervisedovertime and on call status city owned cars, which was the subject of recent investigativemedia reports. Ms. Topham, not having the ability to receive overtime, was reportedlypromised an expanded role in the Department. Officers in the field soon became resentfulabout what was perceived to them as the unfettered squandering of overtime by the PoliceChief’s Staff while their overtime is constantly scrutinized and limited by Departmentsupervisors. Although the Police Chief denied personally authorizing this overtime at a recentLaw and Public Safety Committee meeting held on 8/31/15, Department commanders haveindicated otherwise and have documentation to support their claims.

I

Control of Auditing and Internal Investigations Functions

Prior to Chief Blackwell’s tenure, the Department Inspection Section had the responsibility forvarious auditing functions. These audits were designed to alert Department commanders toany irregularities that may need additional investigation or correction before they becamemore serious issues. When the Inspection Section attempted to conduct an overtime audit ofthe Quality of Life Team, Lt. Barb Young was told by the Police Chief they did not have hisauthority to conduct the audit and were told to cease auditing functions until told otherwise.Their Inspections Section office was immediately moved from the Spinney Field complex to thesecond floor of 310 Ezzard Charles Drive presumably for control or humiliation purposes. Theunit was then later reassigned to report directly to Chief Blackwell.

When I took over the Support Bureau, I installed a new Lieutenant, Jay Johnstone, ascommander of the Youth Services Unit. Lt. Johnstone and I agreed the unit utilized aninordinate amount of overtime prior to us being assigned to the bureau. To make sure the unitwas operating in accordance with Department standards, I requested Inspections Sectionconduct a top-down audit of the entire operation. Chief Blackwell denied the requestindicating this was not a priority for the Department.

Internal Investigations Section was also reassigned under Chief Blackwell after the Chiefexpressed his disagreement with the prosecution of the Police Officer Kevin Jones case. Afterhe indicated in a staff meeting the Department had no right prosecuting Officer Jones, he thenadmonished the investigating Sergeants Brent McCurley and Don Scalf for planning a meetingto discuss the incident with the prosecutor. Shortly thereafter, Lt. Emmet Gladden issued anemail directing an organizational change placing Internal Investigations Unit directly reportingto the Police Chief.

Once the Police Chief managed to take over the Internal Investigations Section, caseslanguished for long periods of time before being resolved. It is my opinion Chief Blackwell tookcontrol of these functions to have the ability to personally manipulate investigations and audits.Unfortunately, these decisions have exposed the Department and City to undue risk.

Self-Promotion

Perhaps the most offensive component of Chief Blackwell’s administration has been hisobsession with his own promotion. In addition to routinely not being punctual, events andmeetings have been held up even longer while the Police Chief’s entourage gets in properposition to take photographs and video footage at his direction. These photographssupplement the scrap book compiled daily by the Police Chief’s receptionist.

Claiming to be national expert on civil unrest due to his involvement with the CollaborativeAgreement (short of him reading the agreement I know of none), Chief Blackwell was not shyabout becoming involved in the incidents in Ferguson and Baltimore. Chief Blackwell was quickto grab the national spotlight and criticize those departments handling of those incidents wellbefore the actual facts were ever made public. Ironically, Chief Blackwell was able to opine ona national platform on how other cities should be conducting their affairs, when he was unableto communicate even a most basic operational plan or strategy to his own department.

In my opinion the most repulsive act occurred during the funeral services for fallen officerSonny Kim. Once again, Chief Blackwell used this tragedy as an opportunity to gather morephotographs and public exposure. In fact, during the procession to the cemetery, ChiefBlackwell and his carload of guests treated the procession as if they were part of a paradedriving from one side of the road to the other and leaning out the window waving at bystandersand taking selfies. As one could imagine, officers involved in this event were embarrassed andoutraged.

Instead of promoting the City of Cincinnati and the Department as some have claimed, ChiefBlackwell’s travels have been viewed by the rank and file as self-serving and arrogant.

Communication

This is the easiest topic to cover because there is little communication. Despiterecommendations to increase communications with the Department’s command staff after amediation attempt in the latter part of 2014, communication became even more deficient.Chief Blackwell attempted to have lunch with a few Captains and set a schedule of standingstaff meetings on Monday and Wednesday mornings. Sadly, most of those meetings neveroccurred due to cancellation by the Chief Blackwell. Sometimes we would be waiting as longas a half hour in the conference room for the meeting to start before someone from his officewould advise us the Chief would not be able to attend.

In many cases the Chief would go out of town and not communicate this information to theAssistant Chiefs. In some of those cases, nobody was even designated as the Acting Police Chiefin the event of a critical situation. Even when critical events did occur, there we someinstances where the Police Chief would supposedly be in town but could not reached.

In the office setting, I was not welcome to visit the Police Chief’s office when I had issues. I wasonly admitted to the office after being formally summoned by Lt. Emmett Gladden and Ms.Sabrina Burton-Simonson. Chief Blackwell acted as if he was too important to personally askme to his office.

Chief Blackwell even tried to prevent communication between the senior command staff andthe rank and file. Annual In-Service Training affords the Police Chief or an Assistant Chief onehour to update personnel on the direction of the Department. For the 2014-2015 training Lt.Lisa Davis informed the Police Academy Commander, Captain Douglas Wiesman, the Chief didnot want the Assistant Chiefs speaking in this forum. Instead, she would assist producing avideo of the Police Chief delivering the message to one of the classes and have it taped forfuture discussions when the Police Chief could not personally appear. This was met with angerand disgust by personnel having to watch the video. In one of the classes, I decided topersonally address the group. A female officer sat though my presentation and at the end shethanked me coming and asked, “How much longer do we have to put up with this?” (Referringto Chief Blackwell)?”

Treatment of Personnel

There is no doubt in my mind the Chief has created the most divisive atmosphere I have everseen in this Department. The problems started with the Police Chief’s staff, or entourage, whowere from the beginning allowed free reign. Shortly thereafter, some developed a level ofarrogance-that-rendered-them unpleasant and abusive toward coworkers and subordinates.The climate in and around the Police Chief’s office is degraded to the point we now have arecord number or personnel seeking psychological services to cope with the work environment.Others have simply filed hostile work environment complaints. Sadly, Chief Blackwell isattempting to make the problem even worse by perpetuating dissention along racial lines.

For me personally, the struggles with Chief Blackwell started when I attended a meeting andhad a puzzled look on my face regarding a comment made by Lt. Lisa Davis which was laterbrought to my attention by the Chief. A short time later, I received a performance evaluationnoting my facial expressions. It is my opinion, Lt. Davis at a minimum had input on myevaluation. For the most part after I filed a grievance relative to the evaluation, there was aperiod of relative peace where Chief Blackwell would simply just ignore many of my requests orinitiate conversation only when he needed something handled. Recently, however, ChiefBlackwell has made accusations indicating I was the one responsible for initiating news storiessurrounding overtime and Department spending. In one conversation Chief Blackwellsuggested I would no longer be working here (CPD) while in another he threatenedInsubordination charges. At the Law and Public Safety Committee meeting on 8/31/15, ChiefBlackwell indicated I would not be needed to provide testimony on the new District Five facilityproject despite being requested to do so by the Committee Chair, Councilmember ChristopherSmitherman. I had to leave the meeting only to return an hour or so later after being recalledby Councilmember Smitherman.

Conclusion

I have been involved in this agency for over 28 years and I have seen a number ofadministrations. I have seen screaming sessions, back biting and I personally have been calledmy share of names. Some of that is to be expected when a lot strong personalities get in theroom and discuss passionate issues. I’ve participated in a number of strong arguments but atthe same time understood everyone in the room is seeking the same thing — How best to takecare of our people and protect our citizens. I also realize I am not always right but I at leastlisten to those around me who can help. Chief Streicher and Chief Craig both would come tothe table and listen to those they thought could help them succeed. Both of those leaders hadthe mindset they were here to serve their agency..an&thecommunity.

It is my opinion; Chief Blackwell came to this agency with a much different idea of how theDepartment and citizens can serve him. Due in part to this thinking the Department hassuffered great damage. Even in the worst of times, I have never seen this Department in such astate of hopelessness. The strength in this agency has always been the ability of our front linesto soldier on and accomplish the mission in spite of administrative shortcomings at the top ofthe organization. I look at the faces of our front line personnel and supervisors and can clearlysee they feel as if they have been marginalized and beat by this administration. The toughestthing for me is I have served with these people and know many of them personally. Some ofthem look to me for answers but often I can offer little.

At a time where the City administration has made public safety a priority and has clearly donetheir part, I feel as if the police leadership has failed in this regard.

The current morale of the Cincinnati Police Department appears to be at an all—time low. In my current role asExecutive Assistant Chief and in my prior position as a Police Captain, ii has been common place for rank and fileofficers to tell that they feel unsupported by Chief Blackwell. These officers convey that their peers who areassigned to uniform patrol feel taken for granted by the Chief and have no clear direction from the top. Many haveexpressed that the work environment is worse than the aftermath of the 2001 civil unrest. Listed below are myobservations regarding Chief Blackwell’s interactions with Tiffany Hardy and Assistant Chief Dave Bailey.

During the past four or five months, I have noticed a clear downward spiral of professional decorum with ChiefBlackwell in his interactions with members of the department staff One such interaction occurred in late June 2015,during the planning process for Officer Sonny Kim Funeral. I was assigned as a Captain to the Police Department’sPatrol Administration Section. I was tasked with assisting with officer deployment and funeral logistics. Whileattending a meeting of all department Captains, essential Lieutenants, Assistant Chief’s (at the time Jim Whalen andDave Bailey) and the Chief was when I realized things were becoming extremely unprofessional. The chief wasrunning late for the meeting and the assistant chiefs decided to proceed. Chief Blackwell called via telephone anddirected Tiffany Hardy, a civilian member of the department, to stop the meeting until he arrived. Ms. Hardy clearlyfeeling uncomfortable at the directive asked me to assist. I agreed and conveyed the chief’s message to AssistantChief Bailey. Assistant Chief Bailey chose to proceed with meeting.

Upon Chief Blackwell’s arrival he entered the meeting noticeably irate but allowed the meeting to continue.Following the meeting he immediately summoned Ms. Hardy and Ito his office where he immediately asked,“Which one you wants to explain to me where the ball was dropped.” I responded that I had no idea what ball wasdropped. He demanded an explanation of Ms. Hardy as to why the meeting was not stopped. She stated the shepassed the request on to me. I explained the directive was passed on to the highest ranking staff member in the roombut the meeting still proceeded. He stated, “Okay, I will deal with him.” Chief Blackwell then proceeded to berateMs. Hardy in front of me regarding a typed error on a Facebook post she completed. He told her she was making toomany mistakes, she was smarter than that, and she needed to better. Chief Blackwell’s tone was very demeaningand belittling toward Ms. Hardy. She was very visibly shaken and unnerved.

On July 27, 201 5, 1 was appointed to the Executive Assistant Chief position and assumed the duties of the SupportBureau Commander. During first week, Assistant Chief Whalen, Assistant Chief Bailey and I were summoned toChief Blackwell’s office. This was the first meeting that I was included in as a member of the senior staff (Chief andAssistant Chiefs). On this occasion Chief Blackwell was noticeably irate as the meeting began and immediatelyasked Assistant Chief Bailey for a written report regarding patrol deployment for the Summer Safety Plan. Assistantehief-Bai~l~-Iia~ respondëtWi~iii~id~ñfth~tprevented him from being in the office to complete it. They began to debate the issue in a heated exchange thatresulted in nothing being accomplished and everyone leaving the room frustrated. Assistant Chief Whalen noticingmy astonishment stated to me, “See why we can’t get anything done.”

In the following weeks I attempted to mediate the relationship between the Chief and Assistant Chief Bailey byengaging in individual conversations with both, however, I achieved little success. Chief Blackwell told me duringone conversation that if Bailey did not change he was going to banish him out of headquarters to an off-site locationin the same manner that former Chief Streicher did with then Assistant Chief Janke.

During this time period communication between Chief Blackwell and the senior staff was either minimal orcontentious, until the media presented a story regarding the use of overtime in the department. During conversationswith the Chief he blamed Assistant Chief Bailey for creating the media story and providing the media withinformation about him. During that same period of several days, I was having a conversation with Assistant ChiefBailey when he was summoned to the Chief’s office. Assistant Chief Bailey was in with Chief Blackwell forseveral minutes when lie exited appearing extremely distraught. Assistant Chief Bailey then stated to me that the

chief threatened to fire him. Follnwinc~ the ineetin’ Chief’ l3lackwell explicitly told inc to longer try to mcd ate as icwas done with Bailey.

A few days later at the department’s Cincystat fleeting a confrontation between Chief Blackwell and Assistant ChiefBailey occurred again. A few minutes prior to the start of the meeting Assistant Chief Bailey and I were seated in arow of three chairs arranged in the front the room with an open seat between us where we placed our hats andfolders. The Chief entered the room and approached Assistant Chief Bailey and told him to move over So he conic!sit in the chair Assistant Chief Bailey was sitting in. Assistant Chief BalIc) responded by stating that he would moveto another chair so there would be mote room for us all to sit. The Chief sternly responded, “Sit right here, that’s anorder.” This forced the three us to sit right next each other as other seats were available and in manner that we hadnot done in prior meetings in the same location. Assistant Chief Bailey sat clown visibly shaken and upset. Theconversation was witnessed by the rest of the command staff and as the City Staff was entering the room. Ioverheard several of the Captains comment that it was verb demeaning and belittling on the part of the Chief to treatsomeone in that manner.

Finally, on Monday 8—3 1—15. during the morning staff meeting an additional argument occurred between ChiefBlackwell and Assistant Chief Bailey. Fhe Chief began his discussion by directing Assistant Bailey and Itodesignate units to be either eliminated or downsized in order to place officers hack into the Districts needingpersonnel. Both Bailey and I agreed that a redeployment of personnel was needed hut did not think it was best to doit on the fly and especially in the presence ofaclministrative personnel who were also in the room. The Chiefrefused to listen and vehemently demanded that we designate the people because he was tired of the criticism. Anargument ensued between Bailey and the Chief as we haphazardly chose personnel to reassign. The Captains wereall called and ordered to report immediately to headquarters and were told to choose personnel by the end of the dayto reassiuzn.

During my first month as an assistant chief I have tried to assist the chief by aiding in processing administrativework that several of the Captains have complained that were never processed. Specifically Internal InvestigationSummaries have been a point of concern as both the current and prior commanders complained about the failure ofapprovals for cases that required discipline. I was able to convince the chief to allow ne to process a few but not theentire backlog. Additional lv, I instructed his aclj utant. Lieutenant Gladden. on how to show the chief to formallyfinalize Use Force investigations and other cases in our Lmployee Tracking System (ETS). I have attempted tomediate the relationship between the Chief and Assistant Chief I3ailey with little success. It has clearly deterioratedover the past two years and is sadly beyond repair.

Eliot K. Isaac

9/8/15

Leadership observations pertaining to Chief Jeffrey Blackwell.

Captain Michael John, Badge C4

At the request of Paula Boggs Muething, I was requested to provide a written account of my personalobservations and experience regarding the management practices of Chief Jeffrey Blackwell.

I was assigned to the Chief’s Office during Chief Blackwell’s initial three months, prior to my promotionto Captain in January 2014. I recognize, two of the three assistant chiefs reporting to Chief Blackwellhad been in direct competition with him for the position of Chief, and the third had previously competedfor the position prior to the appointment of James Craig. This caused an obvious climate of discord fromthe onset.

Professionalism:

Chief Blackwell quickly forged relationships with community stakeholders and activists. This wasfacilitated with his close relationship with Specialist Scotty Johnson and his sister Sergeant JulianJohnson. With Tiffany Hardy, Chief Blackwell became a very public figure and was gifted at connectingwith the community, youth and the media. His persona in public was very large, and he has clearconfidence in this arena. He was professional and likeable.

In terms of his demeanor “in house” — within the confines of the police department, Chief Blackwell didnot make the same connections, and over time, his relationships with former Assistant ChiefsHumphries and Whalen declined. Whalen was always professional, and always respected the office ofthe Chief. Chief Blackwell’s relationship with Assistant Chief Dave Bailey has become counterproductive.At a recent CincyStat meeting attended by Mr. Black, and Department heads, Chief Blackwell arguedover a seating preference with Colonel Bailey and told him to sit in a certain chair, stating “That’s afucking order.”

Personally, while on scene of a partial building collapse on Liberty Street, Chief Blackwell was obviouslyunhappy with oversight of the incident. I had briefed Lieutenant Colonel Whalen regarding traffic posts,pedestrian control, and requests for assessment by the Fire Department and Buildings and Inspections.Officers on scene had secured the area, and were handling the operations in a calm manner. ChiefBlackwell approached me and questioned the manner in which I was handling the scene. He raised hisvoice and told me to act with a sense of urgency, since the building was poised to topple over — this iswas not possible, absent a sideways force. He was visibly upset, and voiced his concerns as live mediawas airing. Later Chief Blackwell ordered me to his office and advised me to develop a differentleadership style than my “mentor” Lieutenant Colonel Whalen.

Communication:

Communication within the command ranks has been poor. Chief Blackwell publically has spoken of hisdesire for a “Robust Youth Engagement Platform” — this has not been articulated to an operational

degree to the command staff. Personnel allocation is determined by the Chief. Clear recommendationshave been made regarding preferred staffing levels, and what they may be able to provide for minimal,adequate and preferred service levels. These recommendations were prepared by crime analysts usingstandard nationwide policing models. On several occasions, the Chief has reviewed personneldistribution and made initial commitments to re-allocate personnel, only to change his mind. Thisprovides false hope of additional field support during times of heavy service demand. Each DistrictCaptain contributed to a summer deployment plan for enhanced patrols, and focused enforcementefforts on those involved in offenses of violence. This was summarized and presented to the chief inwritten form, but was not mobilized. At the last CincyStat meeting, Chief Blackwell advised 30 extraofficers were added to patrol during the 90 day summer safety initiative. Outside of Youth Servicespersonnel conducting directed patrols in parks, the districts had no extra personnel for deployment.Considering we tout ourselves as a data driven agency, there appeared to be no evidence, park patrols,or additional walking patrols (mandated by the Chief) had an impact on reducing violent crime. I amunaware if the proposed curfew initiative (part of the Chief’s 90 day plan) was enacted. The Chief’s 90day plan was very much a departure from the initial proposal developed in conjunction with the DistrictCommanders. I am unaware who contributed to the plan — although summer events disrupted itsimplementation. As an agency, we continue to advocate CIRV as a platform for violence reduction.Experience and results has proven CIRV to be less effective than it was upon introduction in 2007.

During STARS presentations, Chief Blackwell provided little if any feedback regarding conditions andresponses reported to him. Chief Blackwell appeared to have minimal confidence with Dr. Robin Engle —

a national and international expert in police practice and research. A research tool has been developedby UC which provides an enhanced model of identifying violent offenders, much more sophisticatedthan the “CIRV” list. This model identifies up and coming individuals through associations who are likelyto be pre-disposed to involvement in violent offending. This database is draws on CPD information,from Field Interview Reports, offense reports, arrest data etc. Dr. Engel presented an overview of thistool with Dr. Murat Ozar. This model has been largely ignored, but has the potential to be far moreimpactful than the “CIRV” lists.

Absent a select few, Chief Blackwell fails to acknowledge positive initiatives by personnel. This gives theappearance of a distinct lack of appreciation for the efforts of those involved.

Inner Circle

Rather than consulting command staff with priority decisions — Chief Blackwell appears to havedeveloped a core group of individuals he leans on — many of whom are at the officer / specialist / firstline supervisor rank. This is NOT the internal advisory board. There is a general sense the inner circle isself-serving and quick to expel anyone who questions, or is perceived to have questioned ChiefBlackwell’s direction — See Sergeant Julian Johnson; Tiffany Hardy. At times Chief Blackwell uses thisgroup to communicate indirectly on his behalf. This leads to confusion over whether they are speakingfor Chief Blackwell, or themselves with a sense they cannot be questioned.

It is with some degree of reservation I write this, as I know it will be public record, however, asconditions continue with this climate, moral has been compromised, and as an agency we are living adouble existence. Publically, we are a national model, engaged with the community and focused on astrategy of collaboration to problem solve. Internally, we are dysfunctional, with poor communication,lacking confidence in leadership, and a failure to acknowledge positive strides to serve the community.

On September 8, 2015, at 1330 hours, in Room 214 of City Hall, I met with Ms. PaulaBoggs-Muething, City of Cincinnati Solicitor, and Ms. Georgetta Kelley, City of CincinnatiHuman Resource Director. The meeting was convened at the request of Ms. Boggs-Muethingand Ms. Kelley to inquire into the current state of affairs within the Cincinnati Police Department(CPD). Ms. Boggs-Muething and Ms. Kelley advised me that their inquiries were beingconducted at the direction of the Cincinnati City Manager, Mr. Harry Black.

During the meeting, the majority of our conversation was focused on the management ofthe CPD by Chief Blackwell. Specifically discussed were organizational morale; respect, or lackthereof, of the chain of command; organizational direction, leadership, and mission.

The following are questions posed by Ms. Boggs-Muething and Ms. Kelly followed bymy replies.

1. To what degree does Chief Blackwell abide by the chain of command when makingorganizational decisions, specifically, those affecting the Special Services Section’straffic/motorcycle unit?

A. Among other responsibilities, as the commander of the Special Services Section, Ioversee the operation of the traffic/motorcycle unit. It has been my experience thatChief Blackwell, or his office designee, communicates directly with the sergeantassigned to the motorcycle unit rather than through the lieutenant who directlycommands the unit or me. Therefore, outside of the traditional and necessary chain ofcommand.

This process generates animosity among the officers within the section which consistsof the Gang Enforcement, Fugitive Apprehension, and Canine Squads as well as non-motorcycle personnel assigned to the traffic unit. It also generates pooruse deployment and oversight of the motorcycle personnel by upper management(lieutenant and captain).

Specifically, following discussions by the sergeant assigned to the motorcycle unitwith the Chief or his designee, motorcycle operations do not meet preferred methodsof operation nor do they allow for properly distributed roles of responsibility orplanned assignment.

In early 2014, I met with Chief Blackwell to discuss my concerns and asked that hecommunicate with me or the traffic lieutenant to ensure his directives related to themotorcycle unit were thoroughly completed while also allowing other operationalduties to be completed.

Chief Blackwell was receptive to my request and assured me he would discontinuethe practice of communicating directly with the motorcycle sergeant. However, thepractice never changed and in-house animosities as well as weakened oversight andoperational functions increased.

The failure to communicate with the traffic lieutenant or me, necessitated me makingthe directive that all tasks directed by Chief Blackwell or his designee and overtimeincurred as a result would be noted as pre-approved by Chief Blackwell as there wasno, or minimal, knowledge on the part of the section’s upper management.

2. What is the level of direction or leadership involving Chief Blackwell regarding theorganizational operation?

A. The organizational direction provided by Chief Blackwell is minimal at best. Herarely seeks input of the command staff (captains) or the senior command staff(lieutenant colonels/assistant chiefs). On many occasions, personnel changes andoperational strategies were altered without any input by, or notification of, those inthe command or senior command staffs.

This lack of communication seriously impedes the ability of commanders to providedirection to personnel assigned to them as well as greatly reduced the credibility ofthe commander ultimately negatively impacting the organization’s mission and evenmore so, the service provided to the community.

This lack of communication has diminished morale and increased cynicism to a 29year low which also greatly impacts the service provided to the public we serve.

Captain Russell A. Neville

On Thursday, August 20, 2015, just prior to the beginning of the CityStat meeting for the PoliceDepartment, I witnessed the Police Chief approach Lieutenant Colonel Bailey, who was already seated,and direct him to remove his personal items from the chair next to him. Lieutenant Colonel Baileypicked up his personal items and stated that he would sit on the other side of the room instead. At thatpoint, the Police Chief replied, “No. Sit down in that fucking seat. That’s a fucking order.” This incidentwas particularly concerning as it occurred in direct view of many of the assembled police captains whowere present, as well as members of the City Administration, to include both Assistant City Managers.In addition, it confirmed the extent of the strained relationship between the Police Chief and LieutenantColonel Bailey which has permeated the Police Department for months. Incidents like these, especiallyin public view, cast serious doubt on the Police Department to function effectively and cohesively as westrongly adhere to a chain of command to ensure we are accomplishing our mission. When there isovert friction between the two senior ranking members of the Department, that discord affects theentire Department.

In regards to overtime authorization, it is not uncommon to review and authorize overtime slips forindividual officers where the approving authority is listed as either the Police Chief or a member of the

~~)~çe~ Chi~f’s immediate staff. There are numerous occurrences where a commanding officer will sign~~à~tf’6n overtime for events not directly related to an officer’s primary assignment, such as many of our

• -~ youth engagement functions, i.e., H3 Cincy. Even though the officers may directly report to me, I would

have no knowledge of the approval or scheduling of their attendance at these functions, therefore, Iwould not be the pre-approving command officer. I would rely on the notation that the overtimeoccurrence was pre-approved by the Police Chief or designee in approving the overtime worked forpayment or compensation.

The current prevailing topic of discussion among most all of the command staff is that the CincinnatiPolice Department is currently in a state of dysfunction not witnessed in any of our careers and it isuniversally believed that the recent departure of two members of our senior command staff is a directresult of the lack of vision and communication perceived by numerous members.

~

3

cityof

CNI NAIInterdepartmental Correspondence Sheet

Date: July 10, 2014

To: Jeffrey Blackwell, Police Chief

From: Sergeant Ryan Smith, Inspections Unit

Subject: Response to Meeting — July 8, 2014

I respectfully submit the following response to a meeting held in the Chiers Conference Room held on July 8,2014, at 1500 hours. The following comments are strictly my response to this meeting, and do not reflect theposition of any other personnel assigned to Inspections Unit.

I respectfully submit that Inspections Unit, specifically Lieutenant Barbara Young, was maligned regarding therecent move from Spinney Field to District One. I respectfully request that any anonymous complaintsregarding the professionalism of Inspections Unit or Lieutenant Young be aired in an open forum so thatInspections Unit may respond in kind to refute or dispute these complaints, or apologize if said complaints arevalid. I respectfully submit that Inspections Unit has no previous pattern of conduct or allegedunprofessionalism consistent with these anonymous allegations or perceived lack of professionalism discussedduring this meeting.

I respectfully submit that the anonymous allegations and complaints directed toward Inspections Unit,specifically Lieutenant Young, resulted from decisions that were submitted and vetted through the chain ofcommand and either approved in turn or were still being explored for possible action. I respectfully submit thatLieutenant Young was specifically rebuked for actions both real and perceived that were consistent withcarrying out the expressed orders and intent of her superior(s). I respectfully assert that Inspections Unit andLieutenant Young were not given adequate notice to address these allegations or to notify those senior officerswithin thechainofcomm~in turn.

I respectfully assert that statements discussed during this meeting regarding the perceived attitude and hostilityof Inspections Unit personnel regarding this transition to the new work space were neither accurate norconsistent with those held by the personnel assigned to Inspections Unit.

I respectfully submit that Lieutenant Young, and all assigned Inspections Unit personnel, have worked togetherin a professional and highly efficient capacity to relocate to the current work space located within District One.I respectfully submit that a casual inspection of the floors and work space of Inspections Unit would suggestthat the current work space was not previously cleaned and maintained consistent with the adjacent offices andhallways. I respectfully submit that Lieutenant Young’s efforts and intent to clean the new work space wereentirely consistent with the best practices and leadership expected of senior officers within the Department.

I respectfully submit that Inspections Unit requires a work space that is not immediately and freely accessible topersonnel not assigned to the unit. Specifically, Inspections Unit is tasked with a review of the administrative

process and conduct of sworn personnel of the Department as a reciprocal function of the Internal InvestigationsUnit, contained within the larger Professional Standards Section. Inspections Unit personnel in theirprofessional capacity discuss amongst themselves the actions and alleged conduct of sworn personnel sufficientthat said conversations should not be overheard by personnel not assigned to the unit. The Inspections Unitwork space as currently configured does not allow the unit to securely store sensitive files that are required to bekept consistent with retention periods. Personnel not assigned to the unit move freely within the current workspace of Inspections Unit inconsistent with the best practices of the Inspections Unit process, and likewiseinconsistent with the process of Internal Investigations Unit and their separately secured and private work space.

I respectfully submit that I am solely responsible and accountable for this Form 17 as written.

RS

Print Page 1 of 1

Subject: CPD

From:

To:

Date: Friday, September 4, 2015 3:04 PM

Georgette,

I am writing this statement based upon the unprofessional working conditions I have witnessed withinthe Cincinnati Police Department.

My office mate Tiffaney Hardy has been the target of unwarranted criticism and constant unnecessarypressure. As a direct result of the hostile working conditions within the Department, Tiffaney is nowseeing a psychologist to assist her in dealing with the undue stress caused by her work environment.

In my 29 years of service with CPD, I have never witnessed such hostility and lack of respect foremployees. These conditions have directly contributed to the low morale and displeasure pervasivelyhaunting the Cincinnati Police Department.

incerely,

Scotty Johnson

https ://us-rng6.mail .yahoo .com/neo/launch?.rand=d2gn74omrs2v3 9/8/2015

On Friday, August 28, 2015, at 1600 hours in Room 214 of City Hall, I met with Ms.Paula Boggs-Muething, City of Cincinnati Solicitor, and Ms. Georgetta Kelley, City ofCincinnati Human Resource Director. The meeting was convened at the request of Ms. BoggsMuething and Ms. Kelley to inquire into the current state of affairs within the Cincinnati PoliceDepartment (CPD). Ms. Boggs-Muething and Ms. Kelley advised me that their inquiries werebeing conducted at the direction of the Cincinnati City Manager, Mr. Harry Black.

Note: During my nearly 25 years with the CPD, 9 years have been spent assigned to theInternal Investigations Unit, approximately 2 years as a Sergeant, 2 years as a Lieutenant, and 4years as a Captain. During these tenures, I have become extremely knowledgeable andfamiliarwith how to conduct a thorough andfair investigation into an allegation ofa police officer ‘smisconduct. I have also become knowledgeable ofthe Cincinnati Police Department’s ManualofRules and Regulations and the City ofCincinnati ‘s disciplinary and appeal processes.

During the meeting on August 28, 2015, the majority of our conversation was focused onthe lack of communication from Chief Blackwell to me during the time that I commanded theProfessional Standards Section, which includes Internal Investigations Unit and Inspections Unit.We also discussed the effects this lack of communication could have on investigations conductedby the Internal Investigations Unit into allegations of officer misconduct and the precedence itcould set for future discipline and appeals.

The following are three examples of incidents involving internal investigations that I feelwere handled poorly by Chief Blackwell due to his decision not to communicate with me:

• Case #14094: On August 4, 2014, IIU received a complaint that an off-duty officerhad assaulted a known individual. After thoroughly investigating the allegation, IIUsubmitted a report to Chief Blackwell on September 14, 2014, recommending theofficer receive a written reprimand for violating a section of the Department’sManual of Rules and Regulations. After waiting approximately 3 months for theChief to approve the report, I inquired into its whereabouts. The Chief advised methat he could not locate the report and asked that it be reprinted and resubmitted tohim. I resubmitted the report to the Chief on December 30, 2014. As of the date ofmy transfer from the Professional Standards Section on June 14, 2015, this report.had not been approved and returned from the Chief. Therefore, 13 months havepassed since the incident occurred and the officer has not been disciplined and thecomplainant has not been advised of its resolution.

• Case #14127: On October 14, 2014, IIU received a directive from Chief Blackwellto conduct a review of an incident that occurred in District Three which involved anofficer possibly not ensuring a prisoner who was suspected of ingesting contrabandreceived medical treatment in a timely manner. The lack of timely medicaltreatment caused the prisoner to become unresponsive. After a thoroughinvestigation, IIU submitted a report to Chief Blackwell on January 26, 2015. The

investigation concluded the officer’s conduct did not meet Department standards andthere was a recommendation for six Sustained findings. The Chief approved thereport and findings; and according to the Department’s Disciplinary Matrix a predisciplinary hearing was conducted on March 30, 2015. As a result of the predisciplinary hearing, the Hearing Officer authored a hearing summary whichrecommended the officer receive a suspension from duty. The hearing summary wassubmitted to the Chief on May 20, 2015. On June 12, 2015, IIU received the hearingsummary back from the Chief without any discussion. The Chief had reversed fourof the more serious Sustained findings and allowed the two minor Sustained findingsto remain in affect. This action contradicts the Chief’s approval of the original IIUreport. Additionally, the Chief had written comments on the hearing summarystating that the incident should never have risen to the level of an investigation andthat Planning Section was to revise two procedures that govern how CPD officershandle an individual who is suspected of ingesting contraband. After receiving thehearing summary, I became aware from a third party that Chief Blackwell had metwith the involved officer and allowed him to convince the Chief why he should notbe administered discipline. This meeting occurred without any communication orinput from me as the Professional Standards Section Commander.

• Case #15033: On March 23, 2015, IIU was directed to conduct an investigation intopossible criminal conduct by several members of the Department. The allegationinvolved the possibility that two members of the Department failed to properlyinvestigate an auto accident involving an off-duty officer. During the course of theinvestigation, IIU met with City Prosecutors several times to determine if theincident met the elements of a crime. Prior to a decision by the Prosecutor, I becameaware that Chief Blackwell was scheduled to meet with one of the officers alleged tohave mishandled the investigation. I became aware of this meeting approximately30 minutes before it was to occur. I immediately went to the Chief’s office andstrongly-advise-him-not-to-meet-withihe-officer-because-IThJ-had-not-yet-determinedif criminal charges were going to be filed and I was concerned that the meetingcould be misconstrued as a Garrity interview. Chief Blackwell agreed and cancelledthe meeting. Approximately one week before I was transferred to CriminalInvestigation Section, Chief Blackwell directed the incoming Professional StandardsSection Commander to contact the aforementioned officer and determine why hewanted to meet to discuss the alleged incident. I again stressed to the Commanderwhy this meeting should not occur as it could possibly hinder our ability to proceedwith criminal charges if the Garrity issue was raised. The commander ultimatelycontacted the officer via phone and then advised the Chief that my advice should befollowed and a meeting should not occur.

These three examples not only demonstrate case mismanagement but also a lack ofcommunication and leadership by Chief Blackwell.

I spent a tremendous amount of time as the Professional Standards Section Commandertrying to manage the open cases at IIU. The most valuable tool in managing this process is aspreadsheet that I created when I was assigned to IIU as a Lieutenant. The spreadsheet allowedme to always know the current status of all IIU investigations. In September of 2014, I becamevery concerned because Chief Blackwell was in possession of more than 20 IIU reports for morethan 60 days. I went to the Chief and asked him about the status of these cases. The Chiefadvised me that he did not have any IIU reports. My oniy option was to have the respectiveinvestigators reprint the reports so that they could be resubmitted to the Chief. Over the next fewmonths, IIU received the majority of these reprinted reports back from the Chief.

In December of 2014, 1 again became concerned because the spreadsheet indicated thatthe Chief had a large quantity of reports for an extended period of time. After discussing thiswith the Chief, he again advised that he did not have many of the reports. On December 30,201 5, 1 again had the respective investigators reprint the reports so that they could be resubmittedto the Chief.

In January of 2015,1 began keeping a running tally of how many reports the Chief hadand for how long he had them. It became common practice for Chief Blackwell to have between15 to 25 reports at a time, some of them for more than six months.

The aforementioned information clearly demonstrates Chief Blackwell ‘s inability tomanage something as significant as reports which address allegations of officer misconduct.This inability has left the Department unable to bring these cases to a resolution in a timelymanner and thereby diminishing the confidence that we strive to instill in our community and ourofficers. Chief Blackwell’s lack of communication and leadership as it pertains to internalinvestigations has hindered the Cincinnati Police Department’s efforts to maintain integrity andtransparency as it relates to investigating its own officers. Chief Blackwell’s actions are in directconflict with the following entry in the Purpose of Discipline of our Manual of Rules andRegulations,_~iThe~publics-trust is impacted, however slightly; each time a manager adjudicatesa complaint investigation or finds that an employee’s conduct did not conform to law, policy,procedure, or rule.”

•SWE e

~ ,~• ••.

•.:~•~‘ ii~ •.‘ ~ .~R.C.4

PRIVILDGED ATTORNEY-CLIENT DOCUMENT

Testimony from Tiffaney J. Hardy, Director of Communications

Statement regarding the overtime of It. Danita Pettis

On June 2, 2015 I was approached by LT. Emmett Gladden and Lt. Danita Pettis saying they needed todiscuss something with me. They wanted to talk privately in my office, which seemed a little odd to me.They explained that Chief Blackwell had added IT. Pettis to the Public Information Office to help outwith the rash of shootings we were experiencing at the time. It was explained then and corroboratedseveral times by Chief Blackwell that Lt. Pettis was to assist with the shootings overnight to provide aconsistent voice overnight. Since Sgt. Donna and I work long hours during the day, Chief Blackwell feltadding her at night would be beneficial. Lt. Pettis began immediately assisting with shootings.

As time went along, I noticed that Lt. Pettis started attending several additional events and activities onthe Chief’s schedule. When asked by Captains and staff for clarification on her role, Chief Blackwellindicated that she was to assist with shootings and officer-involved shootings.

On July 8th there was an incident where I was trying to clarify with Chief Blackwell information relatedto a public records request regarding his calendar, travel, and his attendance at the All Star Gamefestivities. Prior to this I had been regularly seeing Dr. Daum, the Police Psychologist about what I wasexperiencing and the sense that the office was getting more hostile. During a verbal exchange withChief Blackwell, I was asking several clarifying questions to make sure I understood what he was saying.He then said “This isn’t rocket science Tiffaney, this isn’t that hard. Come on.” He then proceeded to saythat “if I handled the situation better that this public relations mess wouldn’t be happening.” He finallysaid, “I am going to let someone else handle this since you must have forgotten who you work for, thatyou work for ME!” I could not believe that he would say that to me and I asked him “Did you really saythat to me? Did you REALLY just say that to me?” What concerned me the most was that I initially couldnot remember this conversation or saying it to him until I remembered the conversation later that day.It was like I blacked out the conversation entirely. I was so upset over the exchange that I left for lunchand ended up having to leave for the day. I imme~i eJy_scheduled.anapp~Qintment with Dr. Daum.

At this point and several months prior I had been having health issues: extreme headaches, inability tosleep, loss of appetite related to the anxiety I had been experiencing. On July 10th, I met with Dr. Daumand explained to him the situation. He then diagnosed me with anxiety. I explained that I wasconcerned about returning to the office for health reasons, so he wanted me to see my primary carephysician and he marked me off until I could be seen by my doctor on July 13. On July 13th my doctordiagnosed me with anxiety and prescribed medications to help me deal with situation and stress in theoffice. Dr. Daum then marked me off of work from July 13 through July 20th, My primary doctor alsobegan the process for FMLA to deal the office stress should I need it.

On August 6, I started noticing that Lt. Pettis had been attending scheduled events even though stafffrom the PlO office were scheduled and present. As I began thinking of the events of that week, Iremembered that Lt. Pettis had worked our National Night Events that previous Tuesday on August 4,2015. I thought she was attending these events on her own volition, so at approximately 1400 hours Imet with Ms. Ellie Topham, the CFD Finance Director. I explained to her my concerns about Lt. Pettisattending events that we already had coverage for, so I was curious about the amount of overtime shewas accruing. The impetus for this was to determine the amount of overtime so that I could have a

Ii

conversation with Chief Blackwell for two reasons: 1) to inform him of the amount of overtime that wasoccurring and 2) to get clarification on the roles of Lt. Pettis and her work within the PlO office. I furtherexplained to Ms. Topham that I was planning on using the report to have a conversation with ChiefBlackwell and ask that she not mention it to anyone.

At that time I had Sgt. Hurst from my office pull the off-day group list and schedule to determine Lt.Pettis~ off days. To my surprise, many of her OT days coincided with off days from her assigned jobduties at the Central Business Section.

As I was discussing the off-day group process with my staff for clarification in a closed-door meeting inmy office, Lt. Pettis happened to walk by and listened to my conversation with staff members Sgt.Donna Hurst and Police Specialist Scott Johnson. Lt. Pettis then approached us later that afternoonsaying that she had overhead the entire conversation. We had a general discussion and I explained toher that I was concerned about the amount of overtime she was accruing and the number of events shewas attending to get clarification from Chief Blackwell. At that time, she stated that Chief Blackwelloften called her to attend these events and that’s why she was attending.

On August 6th at 3:45 pm I text Chief Blackwell, saying “We need to talk to clear the lines ofcommunications. Also we need to clarify Danita’s role in our office. I wanted to bring something to yourattention about the amount of overtime she’s had that’s been circulating around.

I did not receive a response from him. I attend a community National Night Out function at 6pm that day,but the opportunity didn’t present itself to have a private, calm conversation with him.

I was on approved vacation from August 7 — August 10. Upon my return on August ll~~’, I immediatelyasked to meet with Chief Blackwell at 0830 hours to discuss the Lt. Pettis overtime matter with him. Hewas not available to meet at that time. At approximately 1030 hours, Lt. Gladden approached me sayinghe wanted to discuss something with me. We met privately in an office where he shared with me thatChief Blackwell wanted him to “begin an investigation on when I knew or was made aware of a publicrecord request regarding Lt. Danita Pettis.” From Lt. Gladden’s line of questioning I explained that I hadbeen told Thursday night by Col. Dave Bailey that he thought that there had been a public recordsrequest going weeks back around the time of the All Star Game. However, the first official public recordl-saw-was-on-MondayrAugust--10~-while-I-was-outon-vacation--l-aIso-expIained-to-him-that-sometimespublic records request are not always sent directly to the PlO office. Sometimes they are submitteddirectly to the Records Management Section, the Law Department, or directly to the City Manager’sOffice. I also explained to Lt. Gladden that I was quite surprised at the amount of overtime It. Pettis hadreceived from June 2nd through July 17th, the current pay period. During that time Lt. Pettis hadaccrued almost 200 hours of OT and that she had worked 21/30 work days in June. It. Gladden and Icontinued our conversation and left with a better understanding of what I trying to accomplish bypulling Lt. Pettis’ OT records which was only to bring the matter to the Chief’s attention to protect theDepartment and the Chief.

Later that afternoon at approximately 1330 hours, I met with Chief Blackwell and Lt. Gladden. Iexplained to the Chief that when I first started working for him I always said that I would have his backand tell him the truth. I also shared that these two things were the impetus of why I pulled Lt. Pettis’time. He quickly said that I had no right to pull her time and that he didn’t believe me. He then accusedme of orchestrating the public records request for overtime for l..t, Pettis and his entire office. He thenstated that he didn’t trust me and that he didn’t know if he would ever trust me or even work with me.He then began to berate me in front of Lt. Gladden discussing every personnel matter, project, or things

H ~ I (I y 1 2

he was upset about. His body language was very expressive and he raised his voice. I was quite blownaway with his actions and I felt completely deflated. That day I left for a couple of hours because I wasconcerned for my own mental health and anxiety I felt in the office.

Additional Incidents

Fast forward to August 22, 2015 Chief Blackwell sent photos for me to post. I was having technicaldifficulties with my phone and laptop, so I explained that I would post on Sunday. On Sunday, afterspending my off-day with family, I posted the pictures around 11pm. On Monday, August 24th there wasan early event for which PlO Sgt. Donna Hurst attended. She attended from 0745 hours until about 0830hours. At 0836 hours, Chief Blackwell sent a text asking me to come over to the event. I explained thatDonna had been there and that she should still be there. The day was progressing along until I wascalled into the Chief’s Office at about 0930 hours. Upon entering his office I wanted to discuss theweek at hand and what we needed to focus on for the day. He immediately started asking why PlOwasn’t at the event. I explained to him that Sgt. Hurst had been at the event, taken photos, and hadalready posted photos to Facebook. He said that has saw that, but we weren’t there while he was there.He then began to talk about the weekend pictures and why they weren’t posted in a timely manner. Iexplained the technical difficulties I had on Saturday, but that I had posted on Sunday. He thenproceeded to ask “why I should have a take home car, if when he needed me to come in on a Saturdayafternoon at 3pm then that’s what he needed. He further stated, “And if that meant bringing your ass ina Sunday, it meant bringing your ass in on a Sundayt” I was quite appalled by his use of language. Again,(felt berated and had to leave the office again for the hostile work environment that I felt. This time Icontinued with one of my sessions with Dr. Daum to discuss how I was feeling. Dr. Daum documentedhow I was feeling and gave me coping strategies to better deal with the stress.

Summary

In summary confidentiality, loyalty, and trust are important to me as these qualities have been thehallmark of every single position I have held going back to working as a college intern with the U.S. EPAOffice of Civil Rights. It is with a heavy heart that I have submitted this testimony and presented facts asI-know-them.

Chief Blackwell has had a great community engagement platform and innovative policing strategies andfor that I am thankful in how he has been able to engage the community as well as the department.

I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the hostility that is felt in the office currently has not alwaysbeen present. I feel that something in the course of the last six or so months has happened. The lastseveral months have been difficult for me and I have seen the morale of others slip. Several staff havetried to guide Chief Blackwell by presenting our thoughts, suggestions, and ideas to make situationsbetter. The situation may have occurred from the political pressure, lack of support he felt, or even aneed for validation, but I felt it necessary to share that the interactions, tone, unrealistic expectationsand his level of exhibited frustration has had an adverse impact on the office.

Respectfully Submitted,

Tiffaney Hardy, Director of CommunicationsCincinnati Police Department

r U y

September 8, 2015

To me the largest issue facing Chief Blackwell is the way in which he has situated himself with the senior command staff(assistant chiefs) and in many cases the commanders (captains). Over the past two years, Chief Blackwell hassurrounded himself with a group of individuals in the lower ranks of the Department — lieutenants, sergeants, andofficers. The Chief does not regularly communicate his directives to the right people in the right positions to makethings happen. This has many times created confusion among the assistant chiefs and captains who are not part of thedecision making process to implement a change in their bureau/district/section/unit. As a result, some directives wereimplemented and then had to be changed or stopped because it was not thought through properly beforeimplementation. This has created confusion at the higher ranks and has created lower than average morale.

I recently met with the Chief to help define a new SECTION of the police Department for an upcoming Captainspromotion. In that meeting, I disclosed to him that he had too much “span of control” reporting directly to him on theDepartment’s Org. Chart. My recommendation was to have the assistant chief’s directly reporting to him and NO ONEELSE. Currently, with the people he has directly reporting to him, his span of control in my opinion is not properlyaligned. Look at the Department’s Org Chart; the Chief has unnecessary operational units reporting to him. He is theCEO of our Organization. The Districts/Sections/Units should be positioned underneath the assistant chief’s (bureaulevel) and properly aligned in a district/section/unit under the captains.

The Chief should meet with ALL of his Assistant Chiefs each day to discuss the past 24 hours of police activity, whatneeds to happen in the next 24 hours, and what issues/challenges could we likely expect in the coming days, weeks,months. Currently, these meetings are only scheduled on Mons & Weds and often the Chief cancels. I see this as one ofthe most important meetings the Chief can conduct with his executive leadership team. It forces the SENIOR commandstaff to communicate, make important decisions, and carry out actions within their bureaus through the captains. If thiswere to actually occur, the Chief and Assistant Chief’s would be communicating daily and there would be NOCONFUSION as the directives would flow through the right people/channels with the right message. No decisions shouldbe made directly to lower ranking supervisors or officers without that information being discussed with the assistantchiefs/captains. The latter happens on a regular basis.

I find it embarrassing that we have had a captain’s promotional process in place for many months; in fact, I believe theChief asked the City Manager to add a captain to our compliment (we now have 13), we just promoted 2 Captains, andthey have not been transferred to a new assignment. That’s has never happened in my 25 34 year career. Right now,Captain Aaron Jones, is still assigned to the Police Academy with me (2 captains — seems odd). Captain Jones has beentold he will be transferred next week. Still no word on his assignment — why wasn’t this discussed months/weeks agoand~am not compl~t~l~ ertãiWthêChi~fha fiñ~d7approved~i”new sectiöi~”Tö?Thisii13th captain”. We’ve talked about it with the Chief, but I haven’t seen anything or heard anything about the “new

section”. I’m still anxiously waiting, as are the newly promoted Captains?

When I was Acting Support Bureau Commander for four weeks, after LTC Paul Humphries retired, on several occasions,the Chief would summon Lieutenant Jay Johnstone, Youth Service Unit Commander, to his office to initiate directives forhis unit regarding deployment of the YSU officers and other action items for the YSU to perform. Lieutenant JayJohnstone reports directly to the Support Bureau Commander, not the Police Chief. I became increasingly frustratedwhen I was not involved in those conversations so I would know what was going on and what the YSU was expected tocarry out. A similar situation arose with Mr. Roger Wolf, Evidence and Property Management Unit. Mr. Wolf isresponsible for the Police Department’s Fleet assignments/deployment. The Chief would summon Mr. Wolf to his officeand based on requests from officers, sergeants, lieutenants, the Chief would ask for vehicle allocations and deploymentthat were, in my opinion, unrealistic based on the vehicles assigned to the Police Department. In some cases, theofficers, sergeants, and lieutenants, met with the Chief to ask for a vehicle assignment, would get his permission, thencall Mr. Wolf directly and state, “...The Chief told me to call you and have you assign me a car.” Mr. Wolf and I becamevery frustrated with this kind of activity. I directed Mr. Wolf NOT to assign vehicles to anyone in that situation unless it

was approved by me and I talked to the Chief. This situation never presented itself as LTC Isaac was promoted and Ireturned to my assignment as the Training & Development Section Commander.

Our first Lateral Entry Officer (LEO) class was only 8 weeks in duration (Spring 2014). After the class graduated, theentire Training Unit staff concluded that 8 weeks was not enough training for transitioning officers to perform policeservices in Cincinnati; a large, busy, urban police agency. When the next LEO class was being planned, I personally metwith the Chief and strongly recommended we increase the training to 13 weeks to focus on additional tactical skills andsubject control training. He approved 10 weeks. The Training Staff spent numerous hours planning the LEO trainingschedule and calendar around other trainings we conduct. One day, about halfway through the LEO class, the Chief metwith me to tell me the LEO training needed to be increased because they needed additional tactical training. I found outlater, that PC Scott Johnson had told the Chief they needed more training and it was done. The training staff had toscramble to change the schedule to add the weeks of training, cancel our preplanned graduation date, reschedule thegraduation date with the Cincinnati Christian University. I’m so proud of the training staff and how they handled thesituation, completely professional, pulled it off and got it done. I just wish the Chief had listened to me from thebeginning. I know what I’m doing and wouldn’t make the recommendation if it wasn’t necessary and important.

I don’t have a lot of details about the reinstitution of the Mounted Patrol, but that would be an interesting question.The Chief has stated we are bringing the Mounted Patrol back, but I’m pretty certain, no team/committee has beenformalized to make this happen. Someone did submit a written plan, but I think that is all that has happened.

In conclusion, it seems to me most of the communication problems have been created by the Chief simply ignoring orrefusing to interact at a high level on a regular basis with his executive leadership team — assistant chief’s and captains.He has taken us out of the equation and tried to run our Department with officers, sergeants, and lieutenants.

It has created chaos, confusion, and unnecessary back-and-forth organizational and personnel changes.

Respectfully submitted,

Captain Douglas WiesmanTraining & Development Section Commander

Cincinnati Police DepartmentClimate Assessment